Poetry, short stories, and a few other things on my mind.

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An Exciting Sneak Peak into The Fighting Chance: Book 2 of The Human Race Trilogy

The first zombie comes from behind an over turned minivan. She’s short and fat, blood staining the collar of her shirt. Her left arm looks a little broken and she groans louder when it bangs against the back of the van. I don’t know if she felt the pain and I don’t really care to find out. Dwayne takes the first shot and gets her right in the head. She falls like a sack of potatoes, hitting the ground with a loud thud.

Two more come from behind what’s left of a barn to our left. One only has black pants on, letting his pale, veiny chest reflect the sunlight. The other wears a cowboy hat with part of the brim missing. A bloodlust look in both of their eyes and a groan that is considerably annoying. Another shot is fired and the cowboy goes down first. This draws out five more right behind those two and even more from where the fat woman went down. We have no choice except open fire on these things. Some fall to the cement, never to move again. Others creep closer to their only source of food.

I hear a loud grunt come from behind me. I turn around and see a teenaged zombie rushing at me. I raise my gun and pull the trigger without even thinking. He gets hit in the head and falls face first to the concrete. Once he’s down, I notice a small horde of them coming down the highway. Six or seven, I can’t really see them close enough to count. The important thing I’m noticing, is that we are surrounded. Our only option is to run as fast as we can and get to the other side of the overpass and pray to whatever got there is, that a safer place lies on the other side. It’s a good thing zombies are pretty slow which gives us the advantage here.

I fire a two more rounds, hitting another in the head and a girl in the shoulder. She grunts at me and moves faster. Why can’t these be the zombies who hesitate? Those ones are much easier to handle and we waste a lot less ammo on them. These ones here are just really hungry and aren’t going to stop coming at us.
“What do we do?” I hear Carla shout.

Ryder has now turned around and starts shooting into the zombies with me. He lets go of my hand and steadies his grip on the gun. I can see it shaking, but he still gets one in the head after he pulls the trigger.
“We’ve gotta get out of here!” I hear someone shout through the barrage of bullets.

I look around. At least twenty or so zombies are coming at us from all angles, their arms outstretched and their moans only getting louder. If this goes on any longer, there will be a hundred of them coming here just for us and, soon, we won’t be alive for them to enjoy.

The group has to stay strong. We have to keep shooting whatever gets within a few feet of us. We still have a clear shot to the overpass and we might find something on the other side. Maybe a building we can board ourselves up in or something up high enough so these monsters can’t get us. Anything will be better than sitting out here in the open letting our ammo run low. I’m almost out myself and it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the group runs out too. With as many zombies as this, taking the time to reload is practically suicide.

I shoot another in the head. He was just a couple feet from sneaking up on Carter who turns around and nods a thank you.

“We need to get to the other side of the overpass.” I shout at him, it’s kind of hard to talk over guns going off every second.

He nods and begins urging everyone to move forward as fast as they can. A few break out in a mad dash to get away from the flesh hungry beasts. Ryder and I start walking, him forwards, me backward. I hear him take a couple more shots, destroying two that were to his left. I get another in the chest, it falls, but is trying to get back up. Three more go down to the right of me from someone else still trying to fight these things off.

I glance over my shoulder. Dwayne and three from the group made it to the overpass and are on the other side. That’s not what’s catching my eyes. The zombies aren’t following them. They aren’t going anywhere near the shadowy overpass at all. Their main focus is on those of us who are left trying to get away from them. I shouldn’t let it worry me too much, but I can’t help but wonder why.

It’s darker under the bridge, shielding us completely from the sun. The zombies don’t follow us and I stop walking trying to figure out why. All of them are staring at us, devouring us with their eyes. They continue playing their annoying song, yet never pass into the shadows. I run my fingers through my hair and realize something. Probably something I should have figured out a few minutes ago. It’s dark under this bridge. Dark enough to keep the sun out entirely. What’s the one thing on this planet that thrives in the darkness? The one thing that lives in the shadows while we stay away?

“Vampires!” Dwayne shouts, answering my question.

I whip my head around and see three of them jump out from the darkest corner and land on the road. Carter, Ryder, Dennis, and I are the only ones under the pass and the vamps are blocking the way out. The zombies are keeping us from going back the way we came. We are completely trapped in here.

Dwayne stands on the other side, away from the zombies. I see him raising his gun and taking aim for one of the vamps. He pulls the trigger, but misses its heart. The vamp falls forward and catches himself before hitting the ground. Another one comes out of the shadows and I spot it just in time. It leaps into the air, his main target would have been Ryder if I hadn’t got my gun up in time. I pulled the trigger and got the damn thing right in the heart. It’s a good thing I don’t hesitate with these things anymore.

Ryder didn’t even see it coming. He looks down at the ground, confusion on his face, then passes me a thankful glance. Two more shots are fired and one of the others goes down. I turn and see the other group members standing in the sunlight, doing their best to save us. That actually calms me a bit and I lower my gun. They have a clear shot and the benefit of being in the sun where these things can’t get them. We’re a little stuck and no time to reload our almost empty guns.
Carter takes a shot and gets one in the head. It stumbles backward and trips over a rock before falling on her back in the sun. She screams as loud as she can when the rays begins to boil her skin. It’s not long before someone shoots her in the heart to end her misery.

“Bridget, look out!” Ryder shouts and points at something behind me.

He takes aim and pulls the trigger the very second I turn around. One vamp falls to the ground and another comes from a dark corner. I spot the vamp Ryder shot in the heart. She’s lying in a growing puddle of her own blood at my feet. She twitches once and I shoot her in the back just to make sure she’s really dead. I let out a sigh then look up.